1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tool for separating mated connectors and, in particular, to effect such separation without breaking either connector body or bending any contact therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Background Considerations
Connectors, in particular, electrical connectors with a large number of mating contacts, many times must be manually separated without the use of guiding hardware so that the separation will be in a straight line fashion without damage, for example, to the mating contacts, cabling or other electric or electronic devices connected to either connector half, or the connector bodies. An example of one specific use occurs frequently in testing connectors for quality assurance or quality control. Specifically, a connector secured to a unit under test is coupled to an adapter test cable connector. After the test, the two connectors are separated. Without the aid of such guiding hardware, it is generally the practice to rock one connector half with respect to the other in order to separate them in incremental steps. Damage is almost ensured when the interconnection between mating contacts is snug and when there are a large number of mating contacts. One source of damage arises when one connector half is rocked with respect to the other, and results from the bending moment placed on the contacts. Another source of damage occurs when alignment pins are rocked back and forth in their mating holes and stress the connector body sufficiently to crack, break or chip its dielectric material. Additional breakage results from the use of a screwdriver or similar tool to pry the two connector halves apart.
Further damage to such electronic or electric devices as circuitry or cabling attached to the connector occurs during separation of the connectors by stress, bending and the like or the pressure on the attached device which may break or damage its attachment or the device itself, i.e., the cable, flex circuit, backplane, printed wiring board, circuit connections, or components. Since many connectors and attached devices and/or their repair are expensive, it is obvious that much care should be taken to avoid any damage.
Different concepts for separating devices have been devised for specific problems relating to vacuum tubes, individual electric contacts or insulators therafor, circuit modules and main frame plug-in components, e.g., as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,513,821, No. 3,087,235, No. 3,443,297, No. 3,453,586 and No. 3,951,514. However, none are directed to avoid or overcome at least collectively the specific problems outlined above which are peculiar to mating connectors having backplane, cabling and the like devices attached thereto. One further U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,370, while directed to electric connectors specifically, is complex and expensive. What is required is a simple and inexpensive, yet effective, and reliable connector separation tool.